In the February 2017

edition you’ll find:

Demolition of B-Block

Finding Your Way

Reducing Disruption

Keeping Up-to-date

Meet the Team

Delivering Tasmania’s

state of the art health

facility

Welcome to the RHH Redevelopment project!

The RHH Redevelopment is delivering a state-of-the-

art health facility for generations of Tasmanians to

come.

RHH Redevelopment News provides information and

updates on the project.

You can also find information about the project by

visiting the website:

www.rhhredevelopment.tas.gov.au

Or email the project at:

redevelopment.rhh@dhhs.tas.gov.au

In this issue…

February 2017

Demolition of B-Block

K-Block will be built in the

least disruptive, safest and

most efficient way possible for

patients, staff and the

community. Some impacts will

be unavoidable however.

The safest and least disruptive

way to demolition B-Block is

by gradually dismantling the

building.

Dismantling a building produces

less dust, noise and vibration

than when compared to

collapsing a building which

often occurs on demolition

projects in open areas.

Structural demolition has commenced at the rear

of the building, in the area known as the B-Fan,

and will progressively move around the site until

the main building facing Campbell Street is

demolished.

Construction equipment that saws, breaks up and

removes large amounts of concrete is being used.

It includes excavators with crushing jaw

attachments, cranes to lift materials from the

buildings and elevated boom lifts that are used to

spray water to reduce the dust for example.

The Managing Contractor has estimated

demolition will be completed in the first half of

2017.

For more information see the fact sheet –

Demolition of B-Block. It’s available on the RHH

Redevelopment’s webpage.

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Demolition of B-Block.

Finding Your Way

Finding your way is something you do every day.

Whether you’re looking for an address, finding

your favourite clothes store in a shopping centre

or your departure gate at the airport, you are

following a range of information cues to help get

you there.

Usually we get to our destination without

noticing. We only notice ‘wayfinding’ when it

doesn’t work and we’re lost.

RHH Redevelopment News spoke to wayfinding

strategist, Giorgio Goi, about how it will be easier

to find your way in the new K-Block.

“Hospitals are complex places. They are not

somewhere you freely roam like a museum where

it doesn’t matter if you get lost. You’re told you

have to go to a hospital, for a certain reason and

at a certain time,” Giorgio said.

“If you think about an airport, the layout funnels

travellers to a gate. A hospital is completely

different because you have lots of cross journeys.

You might have to visit a consultant, then go to

Medical Imaging, then return to the consultant.”

“Getting lost is one of the things people hate the

most so think about the discomfort of getting lost

with the fact you’re in a hospital with a health

concern and running late, that’s why people get

frustrated,” he said.

Wayfinding is all the information you need to

guide you from where you are to where you are

going. It needs good signage and more.

It uses architecture to help guide the journey eg

colour schemes, building features and floor layouts

for example.

“The K-Block interior, designed by Lyons

architects, has lots of colour and design features

that stand out so you are drawn to them,”

Giorgio said.

“The layout of K-Block is easy to understand. You

will get out of the lift in a central landing area and

turn either left or right, and from there see

reception.”

The adage ‘less is more’ couldn’t be more relevant

than to wayfinding. Giorgio said the best

wayfinding is simple – it reduces the amount of

information on display. Finding your way starts before you even walk in the door.

Keep similar information together.

“Because the architectural design of K-Block is

logical we don’t need to exaggerate signage.”

One device that will be important is a large,

comprehensive directory however.

“It will be digital so it can be updated easily, similar

to airport flight information display.”

Giorgio is also working with the hospital to look

at how wards are named so they are as patient-

friendly as possible.

“We are also considering dividing the key

functional areas in wayfinding zones so it helps

makes it easier to find where you need to go.”

“In a way, leveraging what is already done in the

existing setup by making it more consistent and

clear. For example, a certain lift which takes you

to a specific area could be named after that area,”

Giorgio said.

Keeping signage simple also means the fewer

words the better; getting the right size of the

writing so it’s clear but not overwhelming.

“Large letters and numbers are important for

people with low literacy. The literature says that

letters and numbers are the first things you learn

when you learn a language.”

Pictograms that are universally understood will be

part of the K-Block wayfinding, eg a coffee cup is

recognised as a sign for a café.

Others will be accompanied by words like the sign

for ‘lifts’ to ensure it is understood.

It’s also important to group similar directions

together to make the information as clear as possible.

Giorgio is working with RHH staff representatives to

develop the wayfinding strategy for K-Block.

He is a wayfinding designer and has worked with

international consultants, ID/Lab for around two

years.

His job is to study spaces and develop navigational

systems for the built environment. He worked in the

Netherlands previously, mostly as a transport

wayfinding expert.

ID/Lab are international wayfinding experts. They

help ‘…people to make sense of the built

environment, by orchestrating and designing

processes, objects, information, communication, and

technology’.

They have worked on numerous hospital wayfinding

projects in Australia including the Victorian

Comprehensive Cancer Centre and Box Hill, St

Vincent’s and the Royal Adelaide Hospitals.

They wrote the Technical Series 2 – Wayfinding for

Health Facilities for NSW Health, a recommendation

from the June 2011, Patient Focused Initiative

Taskforce in NSW.

You can find out more about their work on their

webpage www.idlab.com.au

Use of pictograms, words, directional arrows and information

about where you are ‘Building A going into Building B’ at Box Hill

Hospital.

r.

Reducing Disruption

Construction work in 2017, including the

demolition of B-Block, will be challenging for

neighbours, staff and particularly for patients who

are unwell and under-pressure because of their

health circumstances.

We apologise for the noise and vibration that will

be caused and thank the community for their

support while K-Block is being built.

A number of things are being put in place to help

reduce the noise, dust and vibration such as:

construction work will only occur 7 am and

6 pm, Monday to Saturday and some respite

will be provided during the designated

patient rest periods

window and door protections have been

installed in areas of the hospital adjacent to

the construction zone

equipment to spray water during demolition

to reduce dust

additional dust filters have been installed

infection control and noise monitoring and

earplugs and earphones have been provided

to the areas that are likely to be most

affected by works.

While some disruption will be normal, there will

be some occasions where disruption will be

excessive.

A new approach to dealing with excessive

disruptions has been put in place with the

Managing Contractor.

The Managing Contractor and their

subcontractors are required to give notice of

disruptive works including the anticipated timing

of the works the week before they are planned.

This will allow the RHH Redevelopment to give

notice of these works to affected areas.

Staff and patients will be advised when these

works are planned.

Depending on the work being undertaken, breaks

from excessive noise may be arranged with the

Managing Contractor, eg 20 minutes of works and

10 minutes break.

If any unanticipated excessive works occur and/or

are considered to have an adverse clinical impact,

works may be stopped until it is clinically safe to

resume them or an alternative approach to the

construction activity is implemented.

If you are concerned that the disruption is

excessive, staff should talk to their Manager or

Nurse Unit Manager in the first place. Neighbours

can contact the RHH Redevelopment directly.

For more information see the fact sheet –

Construction Noise. It’s available on the RHH

Redevelopment’s webpage.

Large excavator on site for demolition.

Keeping Up-to-date

To find out what’s new, check the project’s

webpage. There is a ‘Latest announcements’ box

on the homepage which has the latest headlines.

‘More announcements’ has media releases,

information on changes to hospital access and

other project information including this

newsletter.

Project Director, Ben Moloney and Deputy

Project Director, Cheryl Carr gave staff updates in

mid-December where they outlined the

achievements for 2016 and the 2017 program.

Meet the Team

Skye Fraser is the manager communications for the

RHH Redevelopment. Here are five things about Skye:

Number 1 – Skye has been with the RHH

Redevelopment for three and half years and the State

Service in a variety of communications, allied health,

management and policy roles for more than 20 years.

Number 2 – Her work with the project includes the

bimonthly newsletter, media management and the

webpage.

Number 3 – Skye is a big foodie and loves to eat out

and cook at home. She’s spent the last six weeks

preserving, jamming and cooking with home-grown

berries and an abundance of Nashi pears.

Number 4 - Skye’s first job in Tasmania was social

worker at the former women’s hospital, the Queen

Alexandra Hospital.

Number 5 – Skye lives with her partner on their

small holding called #blissfarm where they keep cows,

lambs, pigs, goats, chicken and quail; and have a massive

veggie garden.

Cheryl Carr and Ben Moloney